


Unwatched And Improvised

by Spoon888



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Betting, Bickering, Bonding Over Terrible Roommates, Borderline Harassment From Skywarp And Starscream, Canon Typical Violence, Fluff, Humour, Kissing, M/M, Romance, Trine Dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:15:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22772368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spoon888/pseuds/Spoon888
Summary: Starscream and Skywarp fight over which of them will seduce Megatron onto a date first.Unwilling to give either of them what they want, Megatron asks Thundercracker instead, and is subsequently steamrolled by feels.
Relationships: Megatron/Thundercracker (Transformers), Skywarp & Starscream & Thundercracker
Comments: 59
Kudos: 315





	Unwatched And Improvised

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rakketyrivertam](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rakketyrivertam/gifts).



Leakages weren't uncommon in the Decepticon's underwater base. The bulkheads of what had once been their ship were designed for intergalactic space travel, not the pressure of an organic seabed. Saltwater sprayed from the seams of widening panels and would rise up from the decking to puddle the floor. It was more commonly the lower levels at greater risk of flooding.

And though the air barracks was on one of the topmost levels, it was also liable to flooding. Namely due to some of it's inhabitants' poor breaking skills and cone-shaped heads, perfect for piercing the already compromised rusting iron bulkheads.

Megatron had elected to leave Thrust's head imbedded in the bulkhead until they could think of what to do about it. Saltwater was already leaking out around the puncture his helm had created and was spreading a puddle around the floor at Thrust's restlessly shifting pedes, but removing him would turn the steady stream of liquid into an uncontrollable gush that would fill the barracks and surrounding rooms in a matter minutes.

Megatron stroked his chin, pondering.

Bent over at the waist, staring at the floor, helm half-buried in the wall, Thrust wriggled. "Can I-?"

"Silence," Soundwave ordered, standing over him.

Thrust wisely shut up.

"We could weld the gaps around his cone?" Bonecrusher suggested gruffly, waving his blowtorch around flippantly. "That'd stop the leak."

"And what of the seeker?" Megatron growled.

Bonecrusher shrugged. "Leave him there?"

Megatron pinched the bridge of his nose.

Beneath him Thrust planted his hands against the bulkhead. He began to ease himself out of the hole he'd made, "I could just-"

Water gushed. Megatron grabbed a wing and halted the idiot seeker's retreat. "Stay. _Still_." He rumbled, squeezing the wing in warning.

This was a disaster, and it was growing more and more tempting to simply leave Thrust as a permanent fixture of the wall. They couldn't repair the leak without removing him, but removing him would flood the entire upper level. And thanks to physics, that water would drain down and ruin every level between this one and the basement. It would take days to pump it all out again, and many days more to repair the water damage.

Megatron glanced behind him where his airforce were waiting to turn in for recharge for the night. If the air barracks flooded any worse than this, he was going to have to relocate some fifty odd seekers to drier lodgings, and the base was already tight on space.

"Perhaps we _should_ weld him to the bulkhead," Megatron growled resentfully.

"What?!" Thrust sounded panicked.

Bonecrusher flicked his blowtorch on eagerly.

"Oh for-!" A voice cried from within the crowd of seekers. Megatron watched faces scowl and wince as someone made their way to the front. He wasn't surprised to find himself staring at Starscream a second later, shoving through the frontline of seekers to sneer at him. "You can't leave him there! I need him."

"You need _**him**_ ," Megatron pointed down at Thrust's backside disbelievingly.

"His trine need him," Starscream amended hastily through gritted denta. "And _I_ need the Cone-heads."

"For what?" Megatron muttered. "Target practice?"

"Sometimes," Skywarp appeared next to his trine-leader. He waved. "Hey, Thrust!"

Thrust made a mournful noise.

Starscream began stomping forwards. "This has gone on long enough. I'm pulling him out-"

"You'll flood the air barracks!" Megatron blocked him.

 _"I_ don't live in the air barracks. So that's not _my_ problem," Starscream said airily, and snapped his fingers at Skywarp so he could do it instead.

"No," Megatron agreed, "but it will be when they have no where to recharge tonight."

Starscream's optics widened as that point hit home. "Wait- Skywarp-!"

There was the 'voop' of a warp gate closing a split second before metal groaned and water erupted from the now Thrust-shaped hole in the wall. Skywarp stumbled with his rescued cone-head, knocked back by the spray. Megatron was quick enough to step aside, leaving the full brunt of the water to crash into Starscream, knocking him clean off his pedes and into the rising water.

The Constructicons rushed in to contain the leak, but the saltwater had already spread to every end of the barracks and was beginning to climb up the walls. Seekers squeaked and scattered, running awkwardly where they were trying to pick up their pedes and bemoaning the water already flooding the delicate internals of their thrusters.

Megatron watched wearily as Starscream's other trine-mate, Thundercracker, bent over and stuck his hands in the rising water, searching. He pulled something up, and a second later Starscream's soaked helm breached the surface, spluttering and coughing. Thundercracker plucked a piece of seaweed off his trine-leader's helm.

"You did that on purpose!" Starscream pointed, another piece of seaweed hanging off his condemning finger.

" _You_ did this," Megatron snarled. He kicked a wave of water at Skywarp, getting him just as wet. "Both of you."

"Airforce; displaced," Soundwave announced over the sounds of splashing water, as if no one else had noticed. "Suggestions for relocation?"

Megatron's glare darkened. "Wherever they'll fit."

* * *

"This isn't fair!" Starscream was still raging some hours later.

Trapped in his commander's room with him, _and_ Skywarp, Thundercracker shuttered his optics and tightened the pillow over his helm, trying to muffle the racket. "Starscream, please-"

"I earned these quarters!" Starscream continued, "and now I'm being forced to share them with you degenerates? What did _I_ do!?"

"You flooded the air barracks," Thundercracker glared from beneath the pillow.

"That was Skywarp!" Starscream pointed.

Skywarp popped up out of the covers next to Thundercracker, scowling. "No, that was Thrust!"

"If you'd left it alone-" Thundercracker began.

"Then we'd still be there twiddling our thumbs," Starscream glared.

"And _we_ wouldn't be in your room," Thundercracker pointed out.

Starscream sneered at him nastily, mostly because he was right. "I still don't see why _I_ have to take pity on two of you. Megatron's not sharing _his_ room."

"We're your trine," Thundercracker remind him, feeling a tad hurt.

"Don't remind me," Starscream muttered, and stopped at the side of the berth they were sharing to flick his fingers at Skywarp dismissively. Skywarp shifted up to make room for him, but not enough it seemed. When Starscream joined them in the berth he rolled so his wings would smack Skywarp in the face.

"Ow!"

"Sharing a berth too," Starscream continued to mutter into the darkness. "Will these indignities ever end?"

Skywarp, squashed against Thundercracker, wriggled to make himself some room. Already shoved right to the edge of the berth, Thundercracker had to cling on to prevent himself from being ejected entirely. "Budge up, TC."

"There's no more room."

"One of you should sleep on the floor," came Starscream's voice.

"Why don't _you_ sleep on the floor?"

"It's my berth!"

"Yeah, and it was your stupid idea to pull Thrust out of the wall-"

The berth jostled and there was a sharp clang. Thundercracker stilled, and then flinched away when a sudden flurry of slaps and clacks and hisses filled the room. Skywarp jostled him as he continue to grapple with Starscream.

Was this to be his life for the next week until their air barracks were inhabitable again? Primus, he hoped not.

* * *

"This is like when we were at the academy," Skywarp said, sounding fair too chipper after the last few nights they'd had.

"Not it isn't," Starscream argued, just for the sake of arguing.

Thundercracker glanced at them over the rim of his data-pad, struggling not to get involved. It was difficult to concentrate in this environment. Skywarp and Starscream were forever at each other's throats, bickering and fighting and cursing and screaming. Thundercracker had been stuck on the same page of his novel for the last two nights. Or at least, he thought he had. The previous night Starscream had snatched the data-pad clean out of his hands and hit Skywarp around the face with it so hard it had reset itself.

So he had no idea where he was really. He couldn't even really remember the plot...

"Why not?" Skywarp queried.

"Well, you're not charged for starters," Starscream muttered.

Thundercracker arched an interested brow. He hadn't known either of his trine during their academy days. He could imagine they'd have some stories to tell about their exploits.

For the sake of his sanity he didn't think he should hear most of them though...

"You're confusing me with yourself," Skywarp muttered. "You're the one who used to drink alone in our dorm."

Starscream's optics flared. Thundercracker tightened his grip on his data-pad lest it was stolen and used as a weapon again. "I wasn't drinking alone. You were there."

"Yeah but _I_ was already drunk," Skywarp protested, "from all the parties and _dates_ I went on."

"You didn't go on any dates," Starscream pointed a sharp digit at him. "Who would date a moron like you?"

"Loads of mecha," Skywarp stuck his nose up. "More mecha than would ever date you, at least."

Things were getting ugly. Thundercracker was beginning to wonder if he should try to leave. The problem was he was sat in a chair in the corner the room, and Skywarp and Starscream were between him and the door. He'd been caught in their crossfire before.

"I had _dates_ ," Starscream's cheeks were a furious lilac colour.

"Professors you were fragging for better grades don't count as dates, Screamer." Skywarp was grinning as he continued to goad him. "I mean, even _Skyfire_ friend-zoned you."

Thundercracker chose to use his data-pad as an impromptu shield. He curled his frame up as best he could behind it, choosing to protect his head and chest for when Starscream inevitably started firing.

"Fine," said Starscream calmly.

Thundercracker looked up, surprised to have dodged what should have been an apocalyptic meltdown from his trine-leader.

Starscream folded his arms challengingly, "You think you're more dateable than me?"

"I know it," Skywarp grinned.

"Then we'll prove it, won't we. First one of us to get a date, wins."

"Hey, no way," Skywarp held a hand up. "What's to stop you pulling rank and forcing some poor loser on a date with you?"

Starscream's smirk fell, "I didn't realise you'd be that insightful," he muttered. He worked his glossa around his mouth as he thought. "What if it's someone I don't outrank?"

"But you're the second in command," Skywarp bemoaned. "You outrank everyone."

Starscream sighed in embarrassed disgust. "Not everyone, bit-brain."

Thundercracker hoped Megatron ended up shooting both of them for their presumption, and while they were recovering from their injuries in the med-bay, he could have the whole berth to himself.

That would be nice.

* * *

Megatron had just woken up, and though his frame had managed to trudge down to the mess hall, fill up a cube, and plonk itself down on one of the benches to drink it, his processor hadn't yet caught up. There was a lingering feeling of dread like he had forgotten some unpleasant duty he was set to do that day, and it didn't hit him until the cone-head trine passed him on the way to the dispenser, carrying with them a lingering aroma of seawater.

Ah yes, the air barracks. They were on day three of the repairs.

He groaned into his cube.

And nearly spilt half of it's contents down his own chest plating when his table jostled violently on it's steel legs. He spluttered and looked up, finding Starscream leaning over him, blue hands planted on the table and wings fanned wide behind him, blocking Megatron's view of ninety-percent of the mess hall.

"What?" Megatron grunted, leaning to the side to see around him. Starscream moved with him, not letting his attention stray.

"Lord Megatron," Starscream sung in some conceited faux-charming accent. "You're looking ... _dashing_ today."

Megatron set the cube down in front of him. "If this is about the boarding arrangements-"

"What? No," Starscream flapped a hand. "I lov-lo-" he struggled like the word he was attempting to say was leaving an unpleasant taste in his mouth. "I _like_ my trine. Their company is..." He trailed off. "Anyway! How would you like to join me tonight, after our command shift?"

That they shared a shift today was going to be torture enough. Megatron didn't want to drag it out any longer. "What trap are you trying to lure me into this time?"

Starscream's expression soured. "Just say 'yes'."

"No."

Starscream veered back. His offence transmuted easily into anger. The finger came out, pointed and ready, "Now you listen here," he began.

Voop!

A flash of purple light haloed Starscream as behind him came the sound of Skywarp's warp gate closing. Starscream stiffened and lifted his wings higher, abandoning the rest of his threat and changing tact. He leant forwards, pushing his chest out so Megatron found himself level with a pair of polished turbines and his own befuddled expression staring back at him from Starscream's glimmering cockpit.

"We can go to the surface," Starscream suggested sultrily, "Look at the stars, then afterwards..." He trailed a clawed hand down his own chassis, fingers dragging over the polished glass. "...who knows?"

It was far too early for this.

"Starscream," he began.

His rejection never made it out of his mouth though. Megatron's keen optics spied an energon cube arch through the air seconds before it slammed into the back of Starscream's head with a sharp 'chock'. Starscream stumbled to the side with a curse, and suddenly Skywarp was in front of him instead, shoving Starscream further aside.

"Sorry Screamer, saw a spider."

Starscream's optics were like incoming missiles. "Under _water_?!" He snarled.

"I meant octopus," Skywarp corrected, then, before Starscream could stand properly, he knocked him down again with a firm slap to the back. "Wow, It's really stuck on you."

"Skywarp!" Starscream howled beneath the table.

"Megatron, sir," Skywarp grinned at him cheekily, a hand planted on the top of Starscream's head to keep him down and out of the way. Being much heavier than Starscream, it was working to his advantage well. "Am I not your most loyalest, bravest seeker?"

Megatron could only half hear Skywarp over the sounds of Starscream hissing and spitting. He made an noncommittal noise.

"Then it's your lucky day, sir!" Skywarp said brightly, "Why go on some boring outing with Screamer to look at specks of burning gas in the sky when you can skip all that and come join me in the wash racks and help me get my wings all sudsy-"

"That's not a date, you bimbo!" Starscream snarled, knocking his hand off the top of his head and rising.

"You're just mad you didn't think of it first."

"I'm not surprised," Starscream finally managed to get to his pedes square up to Skywarp. Megatron watched. It seemed they had forgotten he was here. "You can't charm Megatron with your basic personality so you have to use your frame."

"Oh, _I'm_ using _my_ frame am I?!" Skywarp exclaimed, "What about you? ' _Oh lord Megatron, look at me',_ " he mocked shrilly, wings flapping exaggeratedly and hands flying up to grab his own turbines.

Starscream's hand became a blur. It hit Skywarp's arm with a clang, knocking his hands away from his chest. "I don't sound like that!"

"Yes you do!"

Another clang.

"You stupid-"

"I'll show you stupid-!"

Megatron stood from the table with his cube in hand when the arguing seekers in front of him began a physical fight. He didn't bother with attempting to break them up to minimise injuries. If they tore each others optics out they fully deserved it for bothering him this early in the cycle.

It was too embarrassing to watch though. Two warriors trained in advanced hand-to-hand combat, slapping each other pathetically, before resorting to wing tugging and scratching. He heard them tumble to the floor in a loud clatter of armour, where they continued to roll around cursing at each other. He didn't bother to look back. If he was interested in ogling seekers wrestling each other he would have downloaded one of those explicit holo-vids of them doing it in a mud pit.

Primus new what this was. He didn't care for the over-complicated politics of the airforce's inner workings, or that of a trine's, but it was always best to stay on top of these things. He comm'ed Soundwave, asking him to keep on optic on his troublesome elite trine.

* * *

Thundercracker looked up from his novel when the door swept open to emit his trine after their morning refuel, but his greeting died on the tip of his glossa.

They paused just inside the doorway, as though to showcase their dishevelled states to him. Skywarp's face was marred with long blue scratches and his wings were dangling at odd angles. Starscream's cockpit hung open where one of the hinges had broken and his bottom lip was split. They were both covered in fist shaped dents, and both sporting the most furious of scowls.

"So," Thundercracker lowered his novel carefully, "Who got the date?"

Starscream snatched up the large mineral he had been keeping on his desk as a decoration and launched it at Thundercracker's helm with a roar of fury.

* * *

Thundercracker tried not to let Skywarp and Starscream's ongoing bickering get to him. Granted, it was stressful being confined to such a small space together, and spending so much time in one another's company meant Starscream's ...Starscream-ness was getting to him too, but that was no excuse for letting every petty disagreement dissolve into a fist fight.

When they weren't arguing over who was taking up more space in Starscream's modest sized room, they were fighting over Megatron- which Thundercracker was beginning to suspect was only an excuse to keep dunking on one another when they had exhausted everything else practical to argue about.

"What are you building?" Thundercracker queried cautiously, peering over Starscream's wing as he watched his trine-leader carefully lower an active fusion cell into what looked like a gun. "You're not going to shoot Warp, are you?"

"Most likely, yes," Starscream admitted casually, focused on the weapon. "But not with this gun. This is for Megatron."

Very romantic, Thundercracker thought wearily. But of course, this was Megatron. Perhaps he would be charmed enough by a one-of-a-kind weapon to take Starscream up on his offer of a date.

Skywarp was scowling on the berth, arms folded over his chest crossly. "It's too small. He won't like it."

Starscream's helm snapped up. "Size doesn't matter, _Skywarp_."

Skywarp sat up, confrontational. "Yes it _does_ , _Screamer_."

They were very obviously not talking about weapons anymore.

The small room crackled with energy, Skywarp and Starscream's optics locking onto one another like their targeting computers had onlined. Thundercracker scooped up his novel on his way to the door, well versed enough in their constant fights to know when to leave.

He slipped out the door just as the 'pew' of a weapon firing and the 'voop' of a warp gate opening sounded. The door shut behind him, muffling the shrieking curses and deafening crashes behind him.

Great. He couldn't wait to clean up that mess.

He set out searching for somewhere quiet and secluded to read his novel. A harder task than usual when so many of communal rooms were occupied by displaced seekers. The recreation room was full of unattended cassettes wrecking it, and all of the briefing rooms were full, so the only place relatively empty was the war room.

His footsteps echoed back at him about the large empty space. He sat in the front row and withdrew his data-pad, scrolling down in search of familiar looking paragraphs after having lost his place yet again admits all the arguments.

He had just found his place and was settling back to read, when a deep voice intoned, "Thundercracker."

"Ahh!"

Thundercracker nearly jumped out of his armour, his data-pad flying out of his hands. Soundwave was right behind him, having somehow snuck up on him in the eerily silent room. Thundercracker twisted himself out of his seat and backed away a few paces, his pede stepping on something that went 'crunch'. He looked down and lifted his foot to find his data-pad, the screen shattered.

"Great," he bemoaned.

Soundwave didn't at all appear repentant for scarring the absolute scrap out of him. "There have been several reports of quarrelling between your trine-mates," he informed Thundercracker. "Megatron demands an explanation."

"Oh," Thundercracker rubbed the back of his neck before dropping to his knees to scoop up the pieces of silicone from his broken data-pad. "It's because of the whole flooding thing. Starscream likes his space. Skywarp likes _invading_ Starscream's space."

That didn't appear to be the answer Soundwave was looking for. "Starscream and Skywarp; harassing Lord Megatron."

Thundercracker blinked, then felt overcome with a wave of secondhand embarrassment. "Er..."

Soundwave leant forward to better loom over Thundercracker's crouched form. "Explain."

"It's just another one of their petty fights," Thundercracker struggled not to make it sound any pettier than it already was. "They made a bet over who could ...who could get a date with him first."

"Suggestion; advise them to stop," Soundwave said darkly.

Thundercracker frowned. If only he had that level of control over them. Skywarp downright ignored his advice and Starscream took any attempt at guidance from anyone as a personal attack. "It- it's harmless through, right." He tried weakly.

Soundwave straightened up, "Not when Megatron runs out of patience with them."

* * *

Thundercracker chewed his bottom lip, unable to concentrate on the monitor in front of him. Skywarp and Starscream were flirting with Megatron again -or rather, fighting over who got to flirt with Megatron. Having been assigned to monitor duty with Thundercracker, Skywarp should have been occupying the seat next to him, and Starscream wasn't even on shift today. If the twitch of Megatron's right optic was anything to go by, the way the pair of them kept flitting and brushing around him was going to send him into an eruption, imminently.

Megatron's narrowed optics were moving between both of them, like he wasn't sure which of them to throttle first.

" _Warp_." Thundercracker sent him over the comm. " _Warp, get back here._ "

" _And let Starscream win?_ " Skywarp's incredulous voice came back at him. " _I don't think so, TC."_

Thundercracker slumped in his seat and looked back at the empty camera feed in front of him. He blew out a loud, exhausted sigh.

Megatron glanced his way.

Not wanting to draw the attention of his notoriously short tempered and already ticked off leader, Thundercracker slid down the seat of his chair so he was hidden behind the monitor entirely. He frantically started clicking through camera feeds, making himself look as busy as possible, to not give any indication that he had spent the better part of his shift watching his trine torment his leader.

The air shifted next to him, and with a wince, Thundercracker looked up towards the shadow that had just fallen over him. Megatron was staring down at him with a blank expression.

Thundercracker immediately sat up straight, chin up. "Sir."

Megatron's didn't answer at first. His optics slowly turned back towards the centre of the room, where he had left Starscream and Skywarp. Thundercracker shyly followed his gaze and found his trine-mates watching. Skywarp looked befuddled. Starscream looked furious. Megatron's gaze turned back to Thundercracker and behind his leader's back Starscream took the opportunity to draw a line across his throat threateningly.

"Thundercracker," Megatron said smoothly, jolting Thundercracker's attention away from mimed death threats. "What time are you off shift?"

Thundercracker had completely lost track of time. He checked his chrono. "Oh, er, not for another four hours, sir."

"Excellent," Megatron nodded. "Join me afterwards, won't you? I've been starved for intelligent company." He lifted his head and looked pointedly at Thundercracker's trine. Skywarp looked confused. Starscream's face was turning purple.

"I-" Thundercracker mouth worked on air, before what was happening clicked in his processor.

Skywarp and Starscream were relentlessly competing for every second of Megatron's free time. What better way to ruin their wager than to ensure they both lost. This was a spite date.

"Sure."

Somewhere to his left, Starscream hissed a curse. Megatron must have heard if, because his smirk widened. "Wonderful. Report to the tower after your shift." Megatron straightened up professionally. "Soundwave reported the weather was perfect for stargazing."

He turned and swept away, leaving the command centre without a second glance at the rest of the room's occupants, including the rest of his trine. Thundercracker watched him go, and the sound of Starscream indignantly spluttering that stargazing was _his_ idea for a date was like music to his audials.

* * *

As soon as he was relieved from the monitor, Thundercracker went straight to meet with Megatron. Not out of eagerness, but rather, common sense. Starscream hadn't taken Megatron's snub well, and never shied away from taking things out on the easiest target.

For that reason Thundercracker kept moving, and moving fast, glancing back every now and then to keep an optic out for white wings poking out from around a corner.

Megatron was waiting for him at the entrance to the tower. Now in the clear and safe from attack, Thundercracker tried to relax- but that was difficult when the reality of how he'd be spending his evening flooded into him. He and Megatron were hardly familiar with one another. Frankly, he didn't cause enough trouble to warrant much of his leader's attention.

"Good, you're early," Megatron stated when he spotted him. "Let's get this over with, shall we."

Thundercracker nodded, sharing the sentiment. He reminded himself that rubbing this in Starscream and Skywarp's faces later would more than make up for an awkward, stifled evening in Megatron's unfamiliar company, and stepped into the tower alongside him.

Being so tall and broad, Megatron filled the space better than Starscream and Skywarp did when they rode up together as a trine. Thundercracker shifted aside and let his wings droop so they wouldn't brush Megatron's powerful shoulders. He didn't want his leader making any assumptions about him being no better than his trine.

He glanced up at Megatron, and his spark jolted when he found the tall warrior looking down on him. He quickly faced the doors again, blinking rapidly. He heard armour shift as Megatron looked away.

After what seemed like a lifetime but had in reality only been five minutes, the doors opened to rolling waves and a clear sky. Thundercracker stepped out, and immediately noticed a problem.

"Oh," Megatron gave voice to their dilemma. "The sun is still up."

"We could cloud-gaze instead, sir?" Thundercracker suggested. Returning to the base after a mere five minutes would give his trine no end of ammunition to ridicule him.

He looked to Megatron, to find his leader cocking an eye ridge at him. "At what clouds?"

The sky was _brutally_ clear.

They stood on the platform in silence. A seagull squawked overhead.

"Well we can't go back inside," Megatron grunted, squinting at the sun low in the sky. "Your blasted trine will be over me like cosmic rust."

"Sorry," Thundercracker was in the habit of apologising for them.

"Primus knows how you cope," Megatron said casually, trudging to the edge of the platform and lowering himself to sit down, letting one leg hang off the edge.

Thundercracker walked over to join him. "They're not so bad."

Out of his peripheral vision he saw Megatron give him an incredulous look.

"Okay, they suck," he admitted. "But they're-" he struggled for positive qualities to list, and gave up. "I'm guess stuck with them."

"My sympathies."

"At least they're not trying to date me," Thundercracker grumbled, lowering himself to sit down next to his leader. Megatron made a noise that could have been a laugh.

Thundercracker shifted to let his legs dangle over the edge too. Waves breaking against the platform dusted his pedes with cool saltwater. He wriggled his toe pedes.

When he looked to the side, Megatron was peering over the edge too, staring at Thundercracker's reflection in the water. Thundercracker hurriedly looked up, not wanting to meet his gaze head on. He refocused on the dipping sun.

"Cube?" Megatron slipped a hand into his substance and brought one out, filled with clear, distilled energon.

Thundercracker took it wordlessly, nursing it between his hands. Megatron un-subspaced a second and they sat in contented silence for a while. It was nice to just ...get away, take a moment to hear his own thoughts. A shame he had stepped on his novel. He could have come up here to read.

He sun was darkening in colour as it fell lower and lower, casting an amber glow across the water.

"Scrapper tells me your air barracks aren't far from completion," Megatron spoke into the silence, sounding less commanding and stern than Thundercracker was used to hearing. He looked up. Megatron was staring at him again, his optics ...lingering. Thundercracker wiped a hand across his mouth, wondering if he had an energon-moustache.

"Power is due to be returned sometime in the next few cycles." Megatron continued. "I'm sure you'll be glad to escape Starscream's quarters."

"They are pretty small," Thundercracker nodded firmly. "And unorganised. Skywarp's not helping things either. Starscream says he lives in 'organised chaos', but Warp keeps moving things around and hiding them so Starscream has to tear the room apart to find anything and..." He trailed off when he realised he was rambling, and who he was rambling at. "Sorry, sir."

Megatron waved a hand flippantly, "I am familiar with the trials of tolerating a difficult roommate."

Thundercracker looked up, wondering when Megatron would ever have had to share a room. "Really?"

Megatron nodded, a distant look to his gaze. "A gladiator I roomed with, Uproar, I believe he called himself."

"What did he do?"

"Snored like a chainsaw."

Thundercracker winced in sympathy. "What happened?"

"Someone knocked his head off," Megatron intoned emotionlessly. "But berths didn't stay empty for long. I was soon sharing with an even less desirable roommate."

"What did _they_ do?"

Megatron looked him in the optic, his face glowing orange from the setting sun. "He snored louder."

A laugh burst out of Thundercracker's vocaliser, and the sound curved the edges of Megatron firm mouth. The sun set and the waves calmed, but when the stars finally did make their appearances, they hardly noticed.

Megatron vent's dusted warm air across Thundercracker's wings, and he barely noticed the growing chill in the air.

* * *

"I can't believe it's so late," Thundercracker said again, glancing at his chrono.

Megatron hummed absently, still waking alongside him. Thundercracker was unfamiliar with the exact location of Megatron's quarters, but he was assuming, for necessity, it lay somewhere in the vicinity of Starscream's. Which must have been why Megatron was still with him and hadn't strode off after their 'date' to turn in for the night.

When they arrived at Starscream's door though, Megatron stopped with him. Thundercracker's hand lingered over the door panel, but Megatron neglected to say anything.

"Er, thanks," he said genuinely, "I know this wasn't..." _A real date,_ he thought, but didn't say, "...but it was nice to get out. For something other than flight manoeuvres, I mean."

Megatron nodded, "I enjoyed your company tonight."

"Saved you from Warp and Screamer at least," Thundercracker smirked. His hand lifted again to press the door panel, when a black hand caught his fingers before they could, grip warm and strong. Thundercracker stared when they were lifted and brought to Megatron's mouth. Lips brushed his knuckles.

Thundercracker blinked.

"Good night," Megatron murmured, releasing his fingers.

Thundercracker stared at his tingling knuckles as Megatron walked pass, processor stuttering. What?

Frowning, he watched Megatron walk back the way they'd come, turning around every few steps to glance at him again. Thundercracker looked behind himself, wondering if it was actually him Megatron was looking at or if there was someone or something else in the corridor that had so much of his attention -

The door to Starscream's room swept open and four pairs of servos shot out and yanked him over the threshold before he could make any more sense of it. The door shut again and he was slammed back against it, his vents huffing as the force knocked the air out of them. "Hey!"

Starscream and Skywarp glowered at him, hands on their hips and face's scrunched up furiously.

"You're back late," Skywarp stated.

"You stink of saltwater," Starscream snapped.

"What happened?!" Skywarp demanded. "Did you kiss him?"

"Did you do _more_ than kiss him?!"

Thundercracker planted a hand in the centre of each furious face and pushed them back. "Nothing happened."

"You were out doing 'nothing' for an awfully long time, Thundercracker!" Starscream cried shrilly.

"We just talked," Thundercracker shouldered his way between them, heading for the berth.

"About what?"

"Stuff."

"Stuff!?!" Starscream screeched, clutching his helm. " _Stuff?!_ "

Thundercracker glanced at Skywarp as he slipped under the covers, "What's wrong with him?"

"I think he's having an identity crisis," Skywarp said solemnly, sitting on the berth next to Thundercracker. "If you're the hot one now, what doesn't that make him?"

"The loud one," Thundercracker murmured quietly, watching Starscream stomp back and forth, yelling at the walls.

"I guess you won the bet then."

"I guess so," Thundercracker agreed apathetically. He laid down, shifting aside to make room for Skywarp, and dampened his audials down _all_ the way.

Ten minutes later he felt the berth shift and Starscream punch a pillow right next to his helm. Another few moments passed before he felt Starscream finally start to relax.

Meltdown; complete. Casualties; zero.

* * *

A few doors down, Megatron did not drift off quite so easily.

He collapsed across his spacious berth onto his back, and laid atop the covers staring up at his bland, rusting ceiling. In his mind's eye he saw Thundercracker, perched on the edge of the platform, pedes swinging back and forth above the water line, the sun's glow painting him a warm amber. Leaning back on his hands so the light caught his cockpit. Tossing his helm back and laughing. Taking little sips of his energon, dark glossa peaking out to swipe droplets from his top lip.

Then the flutter of his wings at dusk, the way the ailerons and flaps shifted and adjusted to the strengthening breeze...

He couldn't recall the last time he had such a casual, meaningless, personal conversation with someone, and so effortlessly. Thundercracker hadn't blinked an optic at mentions of his less than proud origins. His optics had been bright and easy when he'd looked at him. There was no judgement, no scheming, no disappointment, only genuine curiosity.

He was easy to talk too. Too easy perhaps. Megatron didn't know what had possessed him to reveal some of his most embarrassing defeats in the gladiatorial arena.

Perhaps to hear Thundercracker's laugh. See his smile...

Megatron rolled onto his front and pushed his face into his pillow with a weary groan.

Cursed sunsets. This was their doing.

* * *

Thundercracker passed Megatron in the mess the next morning.

Megatron's spark and vents quickened, his optics brightened and focused, and his back straightened of his own volition. But Thundercracker was too deep in conversation with Acidstorm to so much as spare him a glance. Megatron's tank swooped low and his appetite rapidly vanished. He slipped his energon cube into his subspace for later and sat at his usual table, chin propped in his fist, staring across the hall at the back of Thundercracker's helm.

The airforce tended to group together during refuelling, like a flock of those infuriating seagulls. They packed themselves into a tight formation, wings knocking their neighbours as they talked and squabbled. They could be an intimidating rabble when they were all together like that. No way in the Pit was Megatron standing in front of fifty judgmental seekers to ask Thundercracker if he was free again tonight.

Not to mention, Thundercracker's offended, grudge-holding trine might leap up and try to scoop his optics out with their half finished cubes.

Perhaps he could summon Thundercracker? Or would that seem too formal? Too much like an order?

But was face-to-face to casual for a seeker of Thundercracker's noble heritage? He might have already blown his chances with his flippant descriptions of his past -the mines, the _pits_ \- he needed to repair his image, appeal to Thundercracker more like his fellow high-caste suitors would have before the war.

Poetry. Exotic gifts.

He was in luck there. And this planet had no end of exotic items that could work for gifts. He had heard through the oil-grape-vine that Thundercracker was a lover of organic things...

Though now that he thought about it, those might have been defamatory rumours...

No, surely there was something exotic on this planet just organic enough to interest Thundercracker, but not so much that it offended him. He stood up, confident with his plan and appetite returning. He drank his cube on the go, eager to seek out the perfect gift for his seeker.

* * *

He returned to the base just hours later, covered in mud, leaves, and twigs, his prize tucked securely under his arm.

The uprooted tree spilled clumps of mud from it's gnarled roots and sticks and leaves from his mangled branches as he walked. Despite the base's wide corridors, trees weren't the most compact or portable of objects. Every corner he turned lost him another great chunk of organic material. 

Still, with a plant as great and aged as this, Thundercracker couldn't possibly turn him do-

He turned the corridor to Starscream's quarters to find Soundwave blocking his way. He stopped short, adjusting the tree under his arm. Wood groaned and cracked in his grip. Soundwave stared.

Megatron cleared his vocaliser. "This is-"

"No," Soundwave said.

Megatron scowled, "But it's-"

"No," Soundwave repeated, this time with a finger pointing back in the direction Megatron had just come.

Megatron growled and turned back around -a difficult task when the tree became caught against both sides of the wall, too long to turn around with. Wood groaned again when Megatron tried to shift it, but it was quite obviously stuck. Impatient and annoyed, Megatron ducked under it, glowering at Soundwave.

"You get rid of it then!" He barked.

* * *

" _Gifts unnecessary and unappealing to Thundercracker_ ," Soundwave sent him some unsolicited advice in the form on a comm message less than an hour later.

Megatron scowled. " _Have you gotten rid of that stupid tree yet?"_ He sent back.

He was still resentfully grumbling to himself about the wasted morning and now his complete lack of a plan when Thundercracker appeared out of the blue, coming the opposite way down the corridor he was in. He froze.

"Sir," Thundercracker looked up and nodded, passing by.

"Thundercracker!" Megatron blurted a call, rather than a greeting. Thundercracker stopped and turned. A frown creased his brow as he took his leader in.

"Is that mud?"

"Yes," Megatron admitted, unashamed of his dishevelled condition but struggling to conceal how flustered he felt. "I have need of you."

Thundercracker straightened, "A mission, sir?"

"No," Megatron cursed himself for saying it like that. "I ...wish to see you. Tonight."

Thundercracker's expression was utterly unreadable. He was nothing like his trine in this aspect, so stoic and level headed it was infuriating. It meant _Megatron_ was the emotional one.

"Like ...on a date?" Thundercracker asked quietly.

Megatron clasped his hands behind his back so he wouldn't fiddle with them nervously. "Yes. A date."

"You know Starscream and Skywarp aren't doing that bet anymore, right? You don't have to-"

"This has nothing to do with your troublesome trine," Megatron growled, "and everything to do with me wanting to see you again. Tonight."

"Tonight," Thundercracker repeated, looking a little befuddled.

Megatron cleared his vocaliser and shifted his footing. "I may be your superior officer, but you are under no obligation to say yes."

"Yes," Thundercracker whispered, his cheeks flaring pink.

"Yes," Megatron repeatedly numbly.

"Yes!" Thundercracker reaffirmed, louder this time, and, apparently excited, bounced forwards on his pedes to throw his arms around Megatron's neck and plant a firm kiss on the side of his face.

Megatron froze. Feeling the tension in his shoulders, Thundercracker backed off quickly, hands flying away from his neck. "Sorry, I didn't-"

Megatron caught one of his wrists, it was slight and slender in his grip. Thundercracker cut himself off, stepping forwards again, his gaze flicking between Megatron's optics and his lips. His pale mouth parted, and Megatron leaned in, letting their lips brush. He felt Thundercracker exhale shakily, his warm breath puffing against Megatron's bottom lip. Megatron closed his mouth over Thundercracker's and lingered for a moment, waiting.

" _Mmph_..." Thundercracker shoulders slumped and his lips opened for Megatron. Megatron let his tongue slide in smoothly, and just like that, they were kissing. He released Thundercracker's wrist and his hand fell to grip Megatron's shoulder armour, fingers pressing and pulling in time to the drag and lick of their tongues and lips.

Megatron slid a hand across Thundercracker's shoulder to graze fingers across a wing. It twitched at his touch, but didn't flick away.

They parted after what seemed like hours, their last few kisses slowing and lingering. Thundercracker inhaled deeply when he finally had the room to draw breath. Megatron couldn't take his optics off the matching glow of Thundercracker's cheeks and optics.

"Where, tonight?" Thundercracker whispered.

Sentimental to his core, Megatron smirked. "Same time, same place?"

Thundercracker smiled, bright and dazzling. And Megatron simply couldn't wait to see that smile again, in the glow of the setting sun.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] Unwatched And Improvised](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27557719) by [Gilraina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gilraina/pseuds/Gilraina)




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